23 AFTERSHOCKS
Elke brought Remy to the temple forge while the rest of the kindred prepared to sweep the Allpriory for the culprit. It was not as large as her old one at Dracheholm had been but was enough to keep her busy. Several swords and daggers already hung from the wall, gleaming in their novelty. The fires were still burning, meticulously tended to by Alegra.
“Lady Yingyue is still fast asleep,” she said with a sigh. “Giufei will send me word once she awakens.”
“All well and good,” Remy said, “but what are you doing here?”
“As it turns out, Alegra has a penchant for seeing me work the forge,” Elke said slyly, and the expression on Alegra’s face turned even more wooden. Elke picked up her hammer and tongs and set to work on a blade, the sharp ringing echoing through the cavern. Her voice lowered. “This will ensure that no one can overhear us. Alegra thought it important enough, and I trust her instincts.”
“With the Antecedents and other kindred constantly surrounding Lady Song and Lord Malekh, I thought it would be prudent to reach out to you first,” Alegra confirmed.
“Lady Rotteburg was worried about something,” Remy said. “Sometimes it felt like she was on the cusp of telling me, only to change her mind at the last moment.”
Alegra and Elke glanced at each other. “I saw her skulking about in the few hours leading up to her death,” Alegra said slowly. “She was conversing with several familiars from the other courts, along with a few of their kindred.”
“And you think that has something to do with her murder?”
“Remy,” Elke said patiently. “What was your impression of the Lady Rotteburg back at Elouve?
“She was always something of a gossip, I suppose, but that’s not uncommon with many of the other matrons of the ton.”
“She was a busybody. She always needed to know everyone’s business—to better protect her charges from the libertines and despoilers of lady’s virtues, she always claimed. I don’t see her changing just because she’s found herself at kindred courts instead of Elouvian ones.”
“She approached me two days before,” Alegra said. “Asked me about Lord Hylasenth and his kindred.”
“What? Why?” The promiscuous, hedonistic Eighth Court leader seemed to represent everything the matron would despise.
“I assumed at first that she was helping her son navigate kindred politics by making the acquaintance of the other lords and ladies,” Alegra said. “But she was more interested in Krylla than anything else. Wanted to know if I’d known her long, and if she’d been involved in any of the wars against Aluria. She said that as I was loyal to Lord Malekh as well as Lady Song, that she thought to trust my opinion on the matter.”
“Krylla? Hylasenth’s second-in-command?”
“The very same. When I asked her why she was so interested in the woman, she became evasive. Said that she was invested in seeing her son succeed as leader of the Second Court and would like to know more about those who would claim to guide him along that path. Krylla, I believe, made such an overture. And then I made the mistake of asking her if she was all right.”
“Was she injured?”
“No. This was following her outburst at Thaïs, accusing her of seducing her son. The Antecedent has always been overtly friendly, but I don’t think she meant Lord Tattersall any harm. Lady Rotteburg nonetheless held a grudge against the poor girl after that.”
“Ah,” Remy said with a flinch, remembering his secondhand embarrassment for poor Lorien.
“Then she muttered something about tattoos and asked me if the Fourth Court required its clan kindred to be marked, as those in the Night Court had been. She knew that it was not a prerequisite of the Second but had seen a tattoo on Krylla’s shoulder and wondered if all the other courts did the same. I told her that most of the Eighth have themselves marked not out of obligation, but as a show of pride, and that the other courts do not make it a requirement.” Alegra frowned. “But it seemed my answer only confused her further. I suspected that she wanted to ask me more, but Lord Lorien came along at that moment, and she left with him. I never saw her again until we learned of her and Trin’s deaths.”
“And here’s my theory,” Elke said. “I think someone killed Lady Rotteburg because she realized something no one else did. And Trin was unfortunate enough to have been with her when she was murdered, and so they tried to silence her as well. Lady Rotteburg was not otherwise so important that someone would go out of their way to target her.”
“It could have been done to affect Lord Lorien,” Remy said.
“Lord Lorien barely has a court to rule over. His authority as of this moment is still inconsequential. If this truly is the Night Empress’s assassin, they would not risk their life to infiltrate the palace simply to murder the parent of a Second Court lord who’s barely even consolidated his position. Lord Malekh has had a guard stationed over Trin despite the Seventh’s protests. If anyone saw the killer, it would have been her, though we need wait till her frenzy passes, if it does.”
“Will she make it?” Remy asked worriedly. He liked Trin, for all his suspicions that she might be a spy for Raghnall.
“I hope so, though one can never tell until it is over.”
“What if they meant to murder her instead, and the Lady Rotteburg was the one unfortunate enough to be there?”
“It is true that Trin has some considerable influence in the Seventh, but no. No, I think the Lady Rotteburg was their true target for two things: her nosiness, and the fact that they also chose to attack Alegra.”
“Me?” Alegra sounded surprised.
“It strikes me as desperation—like the killer wasn’t certain if the Lady Rotteburg, too, divulged her secrets to you, and wanted to take you down before you could pass that information along to anyone else.”
“And what about me?” Remy demanded. “I was attacked, too, and I don’t know anything.”
“You were frequently seen in Lady Rotteburg’s company,” Elke said seriously. “The killer targeted everyone she looked to have confided in. I don’t think it’s a coincidence.”
Remy groaned. “I don’t like complications, Elke.”
“It’s why I’d like for us to stay together until Lord Malekh sweeps the temple clean. In the meantime, we must piece together what it is that Lady Rotteburg knew that would give our killer a reason to target you both. Let us start with Lorien, then Krylla. I suppose neither of you have anything else that needs doing today?”
“Lady Yingyue is in Giufei’s capable hands,” Alegra said. “I can perhaps spare an hour or two, if only because I wish to see this resolved as well.”
“Even if I had anything planned,” Remy added grumpily, “you nipped it in the bud when you told Malekh I’d be accompanying you.”
Elke grinned. She finished her hammering and skipped to the wall of weapons, selecting a few daggers and extending them out hilt-wise to Remy. “I thought I’d make more for you to use, given your habit of losing knives as quickly as you do chains.”
“That wasn’t my intention,” Remy grumbled again, but accepted the gifts. They felt lighter in his hands than her usual, albeit still with the excellent precision work she was known for.
Elke coughed, suddenly red-faced. “Alegra, I know you asked me to work on your battle-axe, so I scoured and melded it as best I could. I’m sorry I haven’t had time to do more—”
“There is no reason for you to apologize. If anything, I am in your debt.” The woman took the axe and gave it a few practice swings. Her face softened, then lit up in a smile. “This is beautiful work, Lady Whittaker. I am honored.”
“The debt can be repaid,” Elke said, still coloring, “perhaps with dinner once we have left the Allpriory behind? If you intend to return immediately to Chànggē Shuĭ, Caranelia is only a day’s run from your castle. We have quite excellent chefs.”
“But why? We are kindred—we have little need for human sustenance. If it is your wish that I go and warm your bed to express my gratitude, then you only need ask.”
Elke stared at her, open-mouthed. Remy had never seen her so blindsided before. “Uh,” she began. “I… that is, I wasn’t—”
“Say yes,” Remy said wearily. “For the love of the Light, Elke, just bloody say yes.”
Elke tried again. “I… yes?”
Alegra nodded. “It’s settled, then. But first, we question Lorien.”
“What’s happening?” Elke asked, sounding dazed as the other woman moved toward the door. “Did she just…? Did I?”
“She’s straightforward, if nothing else,” Remy said, grinning.
“I didn’t expect such an offer. Or even the suggestion that she was interested.”
“If my own relationships with kindred have taught me anything,” Remy said, “it’s that I never think long enough to overthink myself. Now, we’d best get going before someone tries to stab one of us again.”
LADY ROTTEBURG’S body had been cleaned and readied for a funeral, but Lord Tattersall didn’t want her buried at the Allpriory. There was a spot in their country estate that she’d always loved to have picnics on, Lorien decreed, and he intended to inter her there as soon as possible.
“She was always protective of me,” he sighed. “After she learned of her illness, that only doubled. I wanted to make her last days as painless as possible.” His fists clenched, tears threatening to spill out of his eyes again. “Couldn’t even do that, could I? How am I to lead a clan if I can’t even protect those closest to me?”
Remy sat beside him feeling awkward. Malekh and Xiaodan had also arrived; all corners of the Allpriory had been upturned, with no assailant found lying in wait. For once, none of the other kindred were in attendance, and so Remy had relayed to them all he could of his conversation with Elke and Alegra. Xiaodan had immediately departed with the two women to question Krylla, leaving Remy with Malekh and the Second Court leader. “Is there anything she told you in the hours leading before, even if you think it’s of little importance?” the lord asked Lord Tattersall.
Lorien frowned. “Nothing I can recall. I tuned out too much of what she said: little matters like who was courting who in Elouve, what outfits some debutante wore to upstage another. Here in the Allpriory, she was mostly worried that we wouldn’t be comfortable, questioning the cooking and bathing customs.” He reddened a little. “I thought it best to let her have her way for the most part. I should have—”
Malekh laid a hand on his shoulder. The younger man leaned against it, as if it could carry his whole weight. “What lord can I be, if I can’t even protect my own mother?” he whispered.
“I had a brother,” Malekh said after a pause. “He was headstrong and determined, always wanted to prove himself. He was still young when he came to my court and always felt the lack of gravity he thought should come with age. And I… I couldn’t protect him, either.”
Lorien looked up at him, blinking.
“Why, then, should I be the leader of the Third Court, much less the Hierarch of the Allpriory, if I could not save him? What claims do I have to such positions when I consider myself too weak to do them justice?” Malekh met his gaze. “But this is not the first time that I was powerless to save someone I cared deeply for. And I fight every day to ensure that will be the final time, though that is likely impossible. Sometimes there are circumstances beyond our control. Sometimes we make the wrong choice, and all we can do is learn to live with the consequences. If you intend to be a good lord to your people, then this is something you must learn, again and again.”
Lorien took a deep, shuddering breath and nodded. “Thank you, milord. I… there is something else I must tell you. I thought little of it previously, but my mother was furious about the bath incident. I thought it was with the poor girl who’d offered to wash my back, but she told me afterward that it was actually about the vases.”
“Pardon?” Malekh asked, taken aback. “Vases?”
“Aye. All eight of the courts’ crests have been added to the design of the vases in the temple. She knew that the Second Court’s crest was that of a white rose but had little knowledge of what the other clans’ symbols entailed.”
“And so she wanted to know more?”
“Yes,” Lorien sighed. “Admittedly, I had little knowledge of it myself, and thus offered to find out if she was so adamant, only for her to insist that she would conduct her own inquiries into the matter. She said it would not do for the next leader of the Second Court to be asking things he was already supposed to know.” His head dropped into his hands. “I should have done it myself.”
“Was your mother often inquisitive about such trivial things?”
“Oh yes—she always said that nothing is inconsequential—that might as well have been the family motto. I wondered why she seemed so fixated on it—there are matters much more pressing here than crests.”
“She saw something amiss,” Malekh said. “I don’t know what it is yet, but I will find out.” He paused, as if planning his next words carefully. “I am sorry for your loss, Lord Tattersall. If there is anything you need, we are at your disposal.”
“No, you have done far too much for us already,” Lorien sighed. “The only measure of peace I have from this is that… well, we both knew she didn’t have long to live, and we were both steeling for when it would come. Perhaps a reprieve from the longer, painful illness she expected.” He looked straight ahead, eyes blazing. “But even that gives me little comfort. Find her murderer, milord, and I will be in your debt.”
XIAODAN’S INTERROGATION of Krylla had not gone as well as Malekh’s. While sympathetic over the death of the Second Court leader’s mother, she claimed to have never engaged in conversation with her at either the Allpriory or at any point before that. Xiaodan thought she was genuine enough in her surprise to take her words at value. “Unless she was a consummate liar,” she admitted, “I’m inclined to believe that someone had killed the lady before she ever had the opportunity to reach out.”
“Aren’t we focusing too much on what Lady Rotteburg said?” Remy asked. “I don’t think anyone would seek to harm her just for learning court crests.”
“I don’t know. It seems innocuous enough, but it must have played a role. I trust Lord Tattersall’s instincts with regard to his mother. She must have thought it important. Therefore we must do the same.”
Remy took a deep breath. “You’re not going to like what I’m about to say. But it’s time we consider letting me reach out to my own mother to ask some questions.”
Xiaodan paused. “Remy, there are far too many unknowns to such a step.”
“You’ve all swept the palace and turned up nothing. There may be more deaths coming, and it will lead to the peace that Malekh’s been trying so hard to fight for, to disintegrate, and both kindred and Aluria will fall. If my mother is the one responsible, I can try to reason with her. But she was the one who saved me. She forced me awake, just in time to dodge the assassin.”
“He may have a point,” Malekh said.
Xiaodan spun on him. “You actually agree with him?”
“We have limited other options at this point. We’ve been able to send him into these dreams before with minimal risk. Speck can monitor Remington’s physical condition and determine whether or not to wake him.” Malekh looked to Elke. “There is a favor I must ask of you.”
“Say no more,” Elke said promptly. “Alegra and I will stand guard.”
“Rest assured that nothing will get past us,” Alegra said calmly.
“Then let’s get started,” Remy said to Malekh. “Like hell if I let them put the blame on you for this.”
“Very well,” Malekh said, and his face softened just a smidgen.
MALEKH HAD left them momentarily to consult with Altace, looking grim when he returned. “It seems that the rest of the Night Empress’s coven is set to make landfall at our shores at dusk.”
“What?” Remy leaped to his feet from the armchair he’d been hunched at. “Why didn’t the Antecedents say anything about this?”
“Because they don’t know what’s coming, either. My sources are elsewhere.”
Xiaodan stared at him, perplexed. “What sources?” she asked. “On the surface? Did Eugenie send word?”
“She did, but with information we already had.”
“There’s no one else we’ve remained in contact with, unless Agatha has managed to send someone very discreetly, or—” Xiaodan stopped and glared at him. “Lord Valenbonne’s vampire messenger?”
“He’s a resourceful lad. Observed that I would emerge from the lake during certain times in the morning and endeavored to wait for me when I did.”
“And so you began swimming back aboveground to meet with him.”
“Lord Valenbonne is a sound tactician. He decided that I would be receptive to any information he was willing to provide.”
Xiaodan frowned. “Now what?”
“I have instructed the Antecedents to prepare the usual defenses. It matters little if the First Court somehow already has access to the Allpriory, so we must use what time we have left to reach out to the Night Empress first.”
They chose to barricade themselves at the quarters Remy shared with Malekh and Xiaodan. Elke and Alegra stationed themselves between their bed and the door, while the other Third Court kindred took up positions near the window, the only other point of entry—or attack.
Remy felt self-conscious, even more so when the time for bloodsharing came. None of the other kindred thought it unusual for their lieges to be sucking at his neck and he at theirs in turn, but Elke had taken pity on him, demanded that everyone else retreat from their chambers temporarily to give them privacy for the deed. It took effect as intended; not even Remy’s nervousness could stem the surges of lust boiling inside him, and while his vampire lovers composed themselves far better, there was no mistaking the way their gazes strayed to him and to each other, as if they were ready to jump him the moment the opportunity arose, audience be damned.
“That won’t be necessary,” Speck said cheerfully, gesturing at the syringe he held in one hand. “One shot of this, and you’ll be out like a light. I’ll be reviving you with another shot in an hour’s time—or should anything go awry. As agreed, I will wait until you display extreme signs of agitation before I rouse you again.”
Remy lay down on the bed with a grunt. “I’m as ready as I’ll ever be, I suppose. Whenever you wish to begin.”
The needle was longer than he anticipated and hurt like bloody bollocks going in, but the effects were almost immediate. Remy felt his limbs slacken, drowsiness overcoming him before he could even ask if it worked. All too quickly their private chambers, wavered out of view as he sunk into darkness.
Only to find himself at the center of a burning village, surrounded by acrid smoke and the sound of people screaming.
His instincts kicked into gear, and he began to run toward the sound, straining to see someone, anyone he could help, while fighting down a wave of panic.
He spotted a figure in the distance and scrambled toward it.
The woman was sitting on the ground, staring in dismay at the flames before her. She was dressed in a simple white robe, one he’d never seen on her before. Even more surprisingly, she was weeping.
Must it come to this? he heard her whisper. So many deaths. So many more will die.
“It must,” another voice said. Remy saw another kindred dressed in scarlet beside her. “You saw what they did to your people, to your home. How could you still forgive them?”
He is my husband. I have a child with him.
“No,” the cowled figure spat. “You were his brood mare. He thought you a far more docile bride than the Elouvian women he courted in the past. He left you for dead, didn’t he? Cut your babe out of your womb like you were some dying sow. And still you make excuses for him.”
I lied to him.
“You were only trying to save your people,” the hooded one stressed. “He would have stopped you, had he known. The Fifth helped you, didn’t they? They suspected who you were long before. Only they protected you.”
I am no one, the Night Empress said bitterly.
“You are the last hope of your people. You were powerless then, when they invaded your land.” The other figure gestured around them. “Will you sit back and do nothing again?”
Slowly, the Night Empress stood. Gone were her white robes, and in their place was her familiar scarlet. Her eyes had turned resolute, furious. No, she said, and the scenery before them flickered, to be replaced by the city of Elouve at a greater distance. I will kill every last one of them.
She whirled around, facing Remy. Some of the tension left the woman’s shoulders. Remington, she said in a softer voice.
“No,” the hooded figure hissed. “He is an illusion. An attempt to take your resolve, to probe for a moment of weakness. He is not your child. He fights for your enslavers, just as your former husband does. To save him, you must kill the Alurians and the kindred who wish to ally with them.”
“No!” Remy shouted. “They’re lying. Mother, it’s always been me. I want to stop this bloodshed. I’m sure there’s another way.”
There is none, came the anguished reply. Can you resurrect those I have lost to the Alurians’ greed? And the kindred courts tried to murder me long before my blood ever awoke. They hunted me, wishing to eradicate every drop of blood that Ishkibal still had in this world, no matter that I was innocent. Only the Fifth offered me sanctuary, and even that was to experiment on me, to test the extent of my abilities. They sent me into the fires, and I lived. I will not allow them to go on while my own are dead and buried. I will not.
Black wings emerged from her back. The landscape shifted again, into something more familiar: the plains only several miles away from where the lake leading into the Allpriory glittered.
“Mother,” Remy cried out.
The Night Empress turned toward the waters.
… And something small and quick darted out from nowhere, targeting not the Night Empress, but the hooded figured beside her. There was a cry of pain as the latter took a step back, raising their hands to ward off the sudden flurry of attacks, and failing as Xiaodan punched them harder, sending them stumbling away.
The Night Empress bared her teeth and hissed, turning to Malekh, who stood several feet away. You turned my own child against me, she hissed. You murdered me in those caves.
“I did not know who you were,” Malekh said quietly. “I never compelled Remington, but I am sorry for the rest.”
You ripped my life from me.
The Night Empress struck, and Malekh ducked her blow. Again and again she lashed out, but all too nimbly the Summer Lord dodged, intent on evading her without a counteroffensive.
Xiaodan was equally preoccupied, her opponent less adept at protecting themselves. They cried out again when a blow from Xiaodan landed across their ribs with a shattering sound, and they stumbled back, clinging to their side.
“You’ve been compelling her,” Xiaodan said. “All this time, we thought that she was in charge, acting on her own—but that was a falsehood. Who are you?”
Despite their pain, a soft laugh escaped from beneath the figure’s hood.
An anguished groan from Malekh. The Night Empress had not struck another blow, but the vampire lord had fallen to his knees, dazed, shaking his head if to clear it. The Night Empress had raised a hand toward him, brow furrowed.
“No!” Remy cried out, darting forward. The compulsion broke; the woman turned to face him, ignoring the gasp of relief coming from Malekh.
“No!” he cried again, feeling that telltale heaviness steal over him, locking his muscles and rendering him unable to move. “Please, no!”
He couldn’t do it again. He remembered Naji’s blank eyes, the look of hurt surprise on the youth’s face, Remy the last thing he saw.
A startled cry. The Night Empress reared back, staring at him, and the beginnings of his compulsion dissolved as well, giving him back control of his own body. “I didn’t mean to—” she said, shaken, and Remy realized she had seen into his mind, tapped into his anguish at the memory. “Oh, Remington—”
Another scream. The hooded figure leaped back. They clutched at their stomach, moaning weakly. Red brighter than the crimson fabrics of their robes dripped onto the floor.
“Get out of her head,” Xiaodan said. She was glowing. Her hands were raised in fists before her, and a dazzling light was sparking from them, far brighter than what she had been capable of when she was awake. For a moment, he thought that she could channel the sun again, turn it on the figure and turn them into so much dust.
But within moments, the Night Empress was between Xiaodan and her target, the same glowing light emanating from her hand as Xiaodan’s.
“You took part of it from me,” Xiaodan said. “We only both survived because I didn’t give you all of it.”
You took from me in equal measure, the other woman returned.
“Have you planted spies inside the Allpriory, Lady Pendergast?”
I need no help to get rid of vermin like you.
Remy dashed to the fallen hooded figure, but Malekh was already ahead of him. He took one look at the robed stranger and made a sound of surprise. “You are—” he began.
With an angry cry, the Night Empress turned and leaped for Malekh, faster than Xiaodan could react. Remy saw the nails reaching out, beginning to close around the Summer Lord’s throat…
And Remy shot awake, screams escaping his mouth. He realized he was face-first into something warm and soft—Elke had thrown her arms around him, holding him to her shoulder until clarity returned.
“You’re all right,” she breathed. “It was only a dream, Remy. You’re back now.”
Remy drew a shaky breath, enough to mumble out his thanks as his senses acclimated to his surroundings. Then he turned his head to see Xiaodan slowly sitting up, blinking. “That was a close call,” she said with a nervous laugh. She looked over to Remy’s right, where Malekh lay. “Zidan, what was…” She trailed off, face turning pale. “Zidan?”
Malekh hadn’t awoken. Remy grabbed his hand; his skin was clammy to the touch. He shook him, softly at first, then with growing intensity when he realized his attempts did nothing. Malekh’s eyes remained closed; by all appearances, he looked truly dead.